Hydrolysis of phytic acid by intrinsic plant and supplemented microbial phytase (Aspergillus niger) in the stomach and small intestine of minipigs fitted with re-entrant cannulas. 2. Phytase activity.

Hydrolysis of phytate in the stomach and the small intestine as influenced by intrinsic plant (wheat) and supplemented microbial phytase (A. niger) were investigated with six minipigs (40-50 kg initial BW) fitted with re-entrant cannulas in the duodenum, 30 cm posterior to the pylorus (animals 1, 4, 5, and 6) and ileocecal re-entrant cannulas, 5 cm prior the ileocecal junction (animals 1, 2, and 3), respectively. Dietary treatments were as follows: (1) diet 1, a corn-based diet (43 U phytase/kg DM); (2) diet 2, diet 1 supplemented with microbial phytase (818 U/kg DM) and (3) diet 3, a wheat-based diet (1192 U/kg DM). At 0730 and 1930 per animal 350 g diet mixed with 1050 ml de-ionized water were fed. Digesta were collected continuously and completely during 12 h after feeding. In the duodenal digesta, 70% of the microbial phytase (diet 2) and 45% of the wheat phytase (diet 3) were recovered within 12 h after ingestion of the phytases, whereas only negligible amounts were detected in the digesta of pigs fed the phytase-poor corn-based diet 1. Most phytase activity passed through the stomach within the first hour after feeding. Microbial phytase activity at pH 2.8 was less sensitive to acidic pHs, such as those found in the stomach, than phytase activity at pH 5.3. Phytase activities in the digesta of the distal ileum did not depend either on source or amount of dietary phytase activity.